Wednesday, June 24, 2009

On the gray rainy Monday evening of June 22, 2009, The Future’s Greet the Press event was held in Greenwich Village at the Brecht Forum. Moderated by both Nathan Seven Scott and Cornelius Jones, Jr. and produced by Richard E. Pelzer II and Dwight Allen O’Neal, the turnout was a MEGA success! The purpose of this event was to generate a dialogue about the media and to discuss the lack of Black Gay Media outlets and its impact on the community. The theme of the evening was communication while forging a network to stay connected. The quote of the night… “Freedom of the press belongs to those who own it” by A.J. Liebling of the New Yorker expressed by print media panelist Marcia Cole of Ambermag.com.

With the boom in social networking, Greet the Press aimed to celebrate the modern media personalities in the New York community and the room full of talented and creative trendsetters taking advantage of the new medium.

The communication and connection continues on Saturday, June 27th at 3:00pm when Dwight Allen O’Neal will host Dishin’ It with Dwight at a trendy downtown locale -- 310 Lounge, 310 Bowery Street, New York, NY 10012. Dwight’s Social Media Networking party in association with The Future and its exclusive media partners will be attended by bloggers, podcasters, Youtube VJ’s and online journalists from across the country who will be in The Big Apple for the New York City Pride celebration of the 40th year of Stonewall Riots. Come meet and greet, drink and communicate with your favorite modern media personalities.Special invited celebrity guests will be in attendance. Tickets are only $10.00 at the door.All are welcome!

Tuesday, June 23, 2009

Thank you for attending our first ever Greet the Press Event. Our aim is to continue producing quality forums to present to the community so your feedback is valuable. We welcome your comments. As you begin to formulate your feedback, please be mindful that there was no blueprint for this event. It is a work in progress as we are all aiming to voice our thoughts and opinions.

Tuesday, June 9, 2009

“Most African-Americans see a difference between civil rights and gay rights,” says Cornelius Jones Jr., above. “Both movements were and are about human rights.”

Photo: J.B. Nicholas/metro

Both black and gay: Internal rights fight

One man’s battle to break taboos that exist within his community

A black lesbian reverend recounts her journey from married with children to coming out and finding love — and the effect it had on her sense of belonging to the African-American community.

It was already challenging enough for Cornelius Jones Jr. to grow up being black in the racially-tense South.

But facing the prejudices of the people outside the African American community wouldn’t be the hardest struggle of his life. Even from the young age of 5, Jones had a sense of the obstacles he would face on the inside.

“I didn’t want to be associated with the weakness and nastiness that gay people were defined by in my neighborhood,” Jones remembers of his time growing up on a predominantly black street in Richmond, Va. “In my neighborhood, church and school, gays were constantly shunned, ridiculed and picked on.”

When he was 15, Jones moved to Washington, D.C. to stay with family friends and attend a performing arts high school — “and also to get away from the constant bullying I received,” he said. But they soon learned that he was gay and he was kicked out of the house. It was then that he had to confront his parents with his real identity.

His mother gave him one piece of advice: “Do what you do behind closed doors.”

It would be a lifetime of pain and struggle that would teach him that his mother’s advice was no way to awaken a black community deeply rooted in religion to the rights of gays. And it would be events like the passage of Proposition 8 — the anti-gay marriage measure in California that 70 percent of blacks voted for — that would be a platform for him to open the doors.

Come and join The Future as we host a conversation about THE MEDIA. Meet the movers and shakers who are reporting. We are calling all bloggers, Youtube personalities and writers who are making a difference in the world of pop culture.

Sunday, June 7, 2009

STREETWISE Images of early Pride events, like this one of a 1969 march on Times Square, have a big role in the exhibit.

Photograph: Diana Davies

Instead of just skipping around the New York Public Library this month (out back for Bryant Park’s Pride kickoff rally, out front for the Dyke March or Sunday Parade), do yourself a favor and head right in that grand front door. It’ll be way gayer than you=2 0think inside, thanks to a June exhibit, “1969: The Year of Gay Liberation,” which aims to show how the Stonewall Riots were part of a much wider gay-liberation movement than most may realize.

“I think a lot of people just think about Stonewall, and they don’t think about what happened before or what happened after,” explains Jason Baumann, show curator and coordinator of the library’s extensive LGBT Collections, from which nearly 80 photos, letters, flyers and various colorful ephemera were culled for the exhibit. “It’s not like there weren’t activists before Stonewall, it’s just that they couldn’t get critical mass.” That major event, he added, set off the spark that was needed for a fast and furious sea change.

“Before Stonewall, the ‘gay movement’ as such was a very secret affair. Its ranks, small but courageous demonstrations, and workings were hardly known to the world,” recalls New York City author and early gay activist Perry Brass. A member of the Gay Liberation Front, which formed in 1969, Brass will take part in that group’s reunion panel as one of several exhibit-linked events (including a lecture by Stonewall author David Carter and a workshop on how to use the LGBT Collections) scheduled for later this month. “Afterward, the Gay Liberation Front and other groups like Gay Activists Alliance propelled this movement fully into the public conscio usness. We had nothing to lose except our own shame, fear and self-loathing. And it’s amazing how quickly we shed these.”

Creating the library’s exhibit—which traces the roots of early activist groups and of the first Pride march, called Christopher Street Liberation Day and which drew 2,000 people on June 28, 1970—was an idea that occurred to Baumann in the fall. That’s when he realized that this summer would be the 40th anniversary of Stonewall, and that the library’s last LGBT-oriented show was in 1994, in honor of Stonewall’s 25th anniversary.

“Nobody knows these collections are here,” says Baumann. But they are impressively vast, and include items like vice-commission records, archives of the Cockettes and of the late Barbara Gittings, and the papers of William Burroughs. “It would be almost two miles if you laid it out end to end,” he adds. Don’t miss this chance for a mini walk-through.

Friday, June 5, 2009

What is BUFCA? Well if I told you then it wouldn't be worth the anticipation. If you are an entrepreneur or a professional who is looking to have a unique networking experience, join me with special guests Nando Rodriguez & Krista Blair for BUFCA!

You must email me at NathanSevenScott@gmail.com if you plan to attend. _________________________________________Nathan Seven ScottProfessional & Personal Life CoachCommitted to Women's Empowerment917-771-6611